How To: Internet Explorer 9 High Security w/ Final Fantasy 14
Final Fantasy 14 requires Internet Explorer in order to process your Square-Enix login before launching the game. Having strict security can cause a variety of problems, including the login screen being blank or an inability to find the game server after logging in.
Because Internet Explorer is integrated with Windows, many people choose to turn all security features on, preventing programs (such as spyware and malware) from using Internet Explorer behind the scenes. Doing so prevents Final Fantasy 14 from running, and obviously this is a problem.
This walk-through will guide you through setting up the maximum security level for Internet Explorer 9 on Windows 7, and then creating the exceptions that will allow Final Fantasy 14 to run.
Before performing any of the steps below, make sure that you can successfully log into Final Fantasy 14. This is to verify that your computer has already created the internet cookies required to run the game.
Requirements: Windows 7, Internet Explorer 9
1.) Make sure you are already capable of logging into the game, and that it launches without a problem. This is to make sure that the cookies required by the launcher have been created.
2.) Go to your Control Panel, and select Network and Internet, followed by Internet Options. This will take you to the screen for adjusting settings in Internet Explorer
3.) Select the tab for Security, and click on the "Internet" zone. Set the security level to "High" and make sure that there is a check in the box for "Enable Protected Mode"
4.) Click on the "Trusted Sites" zone. Set the security level to "Medium-high" and then click on the button that says "Sites"
5.) Type in the address account.square-enix.com and click the button for "Add" to allow Internet Explorer to access the Square-Enix account page for Final Fantasy 14. Do the same for the site secure.square-enix.com to allow access to the secured login screen. Click Close once you have added Square-Enix, in order to return to the security screen.
6.) Select the tab for "Privacy" and set your privacy to "High" in order to prevent applications from creating cookies on your system.
7.) Click the button for "Sites" and type in "square-enix.com" as the address of the website. Click the button for "Allow" to add Square-Enix to the list. This will allow Square-Enix access to the cookies already on your computer. As long as you followed Step 1, Final Fantasy 14 will work with this setting.
And there you have it! More or less the highest security you can have in Internet Explorer 9, while still running Final Fantasy 14. These are the settings that I have used, and I haven't had a problem with it.
Of course, the question will come up, "What if my cookies get deleted?" To allow Final Fantasy to re-make the cookies, you can simply lower the privacy setting for your Internet Zone (see step 6) to "Medium-High" or lower. Run Final Fantasy 14 once to create the cookies, and then set your privacy setting back to the higher setting.